big heads Archive

“Pen Pals”
Written by Melinda M. Snodgrass, story by Hannah Louise Shearer
Directed by Winrich Kolbe

Season 2, Episode 15
Original air date: May 1, 1989
Star date: 42695.3

Mission summary

Enterprise enters the Selcundi Drema sector to investigate unusual geological instabilities that are destroying its planets, and Commander Riker decides this would make a great test of young Wesley Crusher’s ability to command a survey team to study the problem. Wesley is eager as always, but apprehensive about his performance and whether he’s qualified to give orders to officers who are older and more experienced than him. Meanwhile, Data is experimenting with enhancing the ship’s sensors and picks up a troubling transmission: “Is anybody out there?”

“11001001”
Written by Maurice Hurley and Robert Lewin
Directed by Paul Lynch

Season 1, Episode 15
Original air date: February 1, 1988
Star date: 41365.9

Mission summary

Enterprise reports to Starbase 74 for its 30,000 light year service inspection and upgrades, to be performed by Bynars, aliens who work in linked pairs and are connected to a central computer on their homeworld. Commander Riker doesn’t completely trust them, but he’s content to leave Wesley to keep an eye on them after the alien computer whizzes modify the holodeck and program up his dream girl: a woman named Minuet who tells him exactly what he wants to hear.

Season 1, Episode 7
Production episode: 22002
Original air date: October 20, 1973
Star date: 5554.4

Mission summary

The Enterprise has come across an unknown planet on the galaxy’s periphery, so they’ve beamed down to investigate. The planet is a vaguely nauseating shade of puke green, and life signs are “confused.” Sulu discovers a little koosh ball in the grass but when he picks it up it pricks him. Dick. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy discover a nearby building emanating energy readings, but before they can investigate they hear a bass scream: it’s Sulu. He’s been poisoned, and only MacGuyver can save him now because he’s got one minute to live.

Season 1, Episode 6
Production episode: 22005
Original air date: October 10, 1973
Star date: 5143.3

Mission summary

Enterprise rescues a one-man vessel damaged in a meteor “swarm” on the edge of the Romulan Neutral Zone. They are shocked to discover the ship is registered to Carter Winston, a famous philanthropist who has been missing for five years. When they beam him aboard, they confirm his identity.

Original Pilot
Production episode: 1
Original air date: October 4, 1988
Star date: Unknown

Mission summary

Without any helpful narration over the opening credits, or even some kind of “captain’s log,” it’s hard to tell just what’s going on here. This ship, which is called U.S.S. Enterprise, seems to be on a mission in space. The duration of its voyage and its purpose is unclear, but my instincts tell me the crew is seeking out new life and new civilizations, or vice versa, as the case might be. But they’re certainly going where no one has gone before.

Season 3, Episode 12
Production episode: 3×08
Original air date: December 6, 1968
Star date: 5121.5

Mission summary

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are on the second planet around the star Minara, doomed to nova in classic stars-nova-left-and-right Star Trek style. A research crew was dispatched there six months ago to take some last minute readings, but now that the Enterprise has arrived with their ticket out of there no one’s around. The station is covered in dust and cobwebs and hasn’t been inhabited in at least three months. Scotty, at the Enterprise’s helm, alerts the captain that a solar flare is about to dump cosmic plot device rays that force the ship to retreat a safe distance from the planet, leaving the trio all alone.

As soon as our heroes are stuck and the Enterprise is out of range, they play a videotape lying around. In it, two scientists bitch and moan about “this godforsaken place”–which seems to have infuriated some locals, because a high-pitched screech and cheesy camera effect later, both scientists have disappeared into the ether. Then Kirk, Spock, and McCoy hear the same sound themselves and in just moments, vanish one by one.

Season 3, Episode 9
Production episode: 3×09
Original air date: November 15, 1968
Star date:5693.2

Mission summary

On the Enterprise bridge, Chekov and Sulu look like they regret whatever they had for lunch, but it turns out that space itself is disagreeing with them–Spock reports that it’s “literally breaking up.” Kirk is used to bad breakups, but this is causing all sorts of wonky sensor readings and the warp engines are inexplicably losing power. Then Chekov notices a ghostly ship ahead on the main viewscreen: the U.S.S. Defiant, a Constitution-class Federation ship which has been missing for three weeks. In this case they can only trust what they see with their own eyes, because sensors indicate their sister ship isn’t actually there. There’s no response to hails, so there’s only one thing to do–beam aboard to check things out.

As development ramps up on the untitled sequel to the 2009 Star Trek reboot film, plot and casting rumors are as inevitable as Vulcan ponn farr. J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof are still working on the script, but people are already conjecturing about the possible storylines and characters we’ll see as early as June 2012.

The latest revelations, according to Trekmovie.com and Badass News, dangle the possibility of a classic Trek antagonist challenging the crew of the Enterprise. It seems many fans would happily go where we’ve gone before with a modern take on “Space Seed” and the return of a pre-wrathful Khan Noonien Singh. I think that would be a mistake given the iconic nature of Ricardo Montalban’s performance and the fact that the original Star Trek II has pretty big boots to fill. Come to think of it, “Space Seed” itself is a tough act to follow.

“The Menagerie” Part II
Written by Gene Roddenberry
Directed by Robert Butler

Season 1, Episode 12
Production episode: 1×16
Original air date: November 24, 1966
Star date: 3013.1

Mission summary
The episode begins with an unusually lengthy Captain’s Log entry, recapping the incredible events of the previous episode. Then we dive back into Spock’s court-martial, now in closed session with just Kirk, Spock, Commodore Mendez, and Captain Pike in attendance. Just like Heroes, there’s no way to block the Talosian images, and no one thinks to just turn off the monitor.

Onscreen, the younger Captain Pike awakens in an episode of The Twilight Zone, inside a glass cage with hypercephalic beings studying him. They speak about him telepathically, analyzing his thoughts and predicting his actions. They say he will throw himself against the “transparency” in a “display of physical prowess,” just before he does. Pike speaks to them, insisting he’ll find a way to escape, but they ignore him as though he were a dumb creature and begin planning some experiments on him.

“The Menagerie” Part I
Written by Gene Roddenberry
Directed by Marc Daniels

Season 1, Episode 11
Production episode: 1×15
Original air date: November 17, 1966
Star date: 3012.4

Mission summaryThe Enterprise is diverted to Starbase 11 after supposedly receiving a request from Fleet Captain Christopher Pike, the previous captain of the Enterprise and Spock’s former commander. But when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down, Commodore Mendez informs them that such a transmission was never sent. In fact, it’s impossible for Captain Pike to send any messages, as he was recently the victim of a terrible accident that exposed him to dangerous delta rays. Instead of gaining amazing new superpowers, he was paralyzed and deformed. Pike is now restricted to a wheelchair, his communication limited to blinking lights that signal “yes” and “no.”